The Rancers are knights of the oldest orders who sit astride their magical motorcycles and do battle with the whatever social injustice faces the land. Their rumbling, magical, mechanical, mounts spit fire from their tailpipes as they race across the land, bringing swift justice along with the roar of their engine.

The motorcycles, known as orthella (or-thell-ah) are relics of a bygone age, fueled only by the life-flame of their rider to whom they are ritually bound. Semi-aware, orthella are technically constructs who have been passed from rancer to rancer for centuries. Rancers are selected for their spiritual simpatico with an orthella as a bonding ritual must take place between the man and the machine. Orthella contain the souls of ancient fire or lightning elementals and they feed off the passion and dedication of those they are bound to. If one is destroyed, new orthella can be fashioned, though the ritual is complex and often quite expensive. Rancers are an informal order, often serving as mercenary knights on the side of the underdog. Many major cities have a rancer’s guild representative who can contact local rancers for jobs. Rancers are not taught, rather they are selected by a seeking ritual once a previous rancer is killed.

Requirement: Chaotic Aligned

All rancers are chaotic aligned as they must bond with the spirit of a wild elemental who resides in their motorcycle. Many are chaotic good, traveling as a knight errant who defends the little guy, while a rare few are chaotic evil agents of destruction who unleash their fury on any who cross their paths.

Orders: Rancers guilds are loose affiliations so a rancer’s “order” class feature more specifically refers to their disposition.

The vast majority of rancers align with the Order of the Shield (protecting the common folk) and less commonly with the Order of the Blue Rose. Evil rancers often favor the Order of the Cockatrice. Occasionally they will be members of the Order of the Blue Rose or Order of the Dragon

They are never members of honor-based or fealty-based orders like the Order of the Lion or Order of the Sword.

Orthella (Mount) (Ex): At 1st level, the rancer is bound to an orthella - a magical motorcycle. This functions as a druid’s animal companion, using the rancer’s level as his effective druid level. He may chose an orthella possessed either by a fire or lightning elemental. A rancer does not take an armor check penalty on Ride checks while riding an orthella. A rancer’s orthella does not gain the share spells special ability.

Orthella have no free will and will not act without physical input by their rider. They do not need to be pushed (as they are always obedient) and cannot learn tricks. An unattended orthella cannot make attacks or move on its own (or take any action). An unattended orthella is considered a construct, not an unattended object, and is not considered helpless. Orthella are a construct and cannot be effected by Handle Animal.

While riding an orthella you can only travel in straight lines or on diagonals (no right angle or lateral movement). A ride check, DC 20, can allow a single turn (non-straight, non-diagonal) movement per turn. While moving, orthella always provide a charge bonus- even if they move on diagonals or turn.

A rancer is spiritually bound to his orthella, and as such is always mentally aware of its condition (HP, conditions, etc) as if it were an extension of his body while he is touching it. Should a rancer’s orthella be destroyed, he needs to return to the nearest rancer’s guild hall and retrieve the spirit of his orthella. When without his orthella, he receives 1 negative level until it is restored and he may not take further levels in the rancer class until it has been returned to its form. The ritual to remake the motorcycle and rebind its physical form takes 6 hours and costs 1,000 gp per rancer level. A specialist is typically needed to be called in to perform this ritual.

This ability replaces mount.

Orthella (Fire)

Starting StatisticsTYPE Construct SIZE Large; SPEED 50 ft.; AC +4 natural armor; ATTACK slam (1d6); ABILITY SCORES Str 16, Dex 14, Con —, Int 2, Wis 2, Cha 6; SPECIAL QUALITIES Construct immunities, vulnerability to cold, superheat (3 damage), resist fire 5SUPERHEAT (SU): An orthella possessed by a fire spirit superheats the metal of her motorcycle frame and burns anyone who touches her other than her rider. This functions as a supernatural version of the fire shield spell, but it only causes 1 point of fire damage per point of the motorcycle’s Strength modifier. This ability is constant, though may be suppressed as a swift action with as little as a verbal command from the rancer.

4th-Level AdvancementABILITY SCORES Str +2, Dex +2 SPECIAL QUALITIES Immune to electricity, joltJOLT (SU): An unmounted orthella possessed by a lightning spirit can be summoned to an empty adjacent square by a rider who is bound to him from up to the orthella’s movement speed feet away as a swift action.

Motorcycle Empathy (Su): At 1st level, a rancer can take a standard action to touch his orthella and restore 1d6 hit points for every 2 levels of rancer he has (minimum 1d6) + his Charisma modifier. He can do this once per day at 1st level and 1 additional time at 5th level and every 5 levels thereafter. He may use this ability 1 additional time per day, however on this additional use he must succeeds a Knowledge (engineering) check (DC 15 + rancer level) or have it fail. A failed check still consumes expends this extra use.

This ability replaces tactician.

Orthella Bond (Ex): At 4th level, a rancer receives a bonus equal to 1/2 his rancer level whenever he uses Ride on his orthella.

Orthella Improvement (Ex): At 9th level, if the rancer’s orthella is a lighting orthella, it doubles its land speed. If it is a fire orthella, its Strength score improves by 4.

This ability replaces greater tactician.

Champion Racer (Ex): At 17th level, if the rancer’s orthella is a lighting orthella, it increases its land speed again, for a total of x4 movement speed (240 for a typical lightning orthella). If it is a fire orthella, its Strength score improves by 4 (for a total of 26 including its 4th-level advancement).